A Weekly Roundup of Stories We Found Interesting – From The Profound To The Profane

V.A. Shuns Medical Marijuana, Leaving Vets to Improvise
The Department of Veterans Affairs health system has largely said no to medical marijuana, citing federal law. Veterans are not waiting for a green light from Washington. A department survey in 2017 found that nearly 9 percent of veterans reported using cannabis in the last year, and almost half of those were using it for medical purposes.

New Jersey Halts Weed Prosecutions, Moves Closer To Legalizing Pot
In a move that will affect thousands of defendants and millions of residents, New Jersey’s attorney general has announced an immediate adjournment of all marijuana cases in municipal courts statewide until at least September.

Could A New Bill Take Politics Out of Pot?
Proponents of a new effort to study marijuana on Capitol Hill believe their bill, dubbed the Marijuana Data Collection Act, has the greatest chance of becoming law because it seeks to do something both relatively uncontroversial and completely novel: Remove politics from the debate over marijuana altogether, while putting the nation’s scientists in the driver’s seat.

Medical Marijuana Tracking A Big Mess In Oregon
The Oregon Health Authority, which oversees medical marijuana, has been unable to inspect growers enough to deter those growing weed illegally. In fact, according to an article that appeared in Friday’s Bulletin, of some 20,000 registered medical marijuana grow sites in the state in 2017, only 58 were inspected.

Cannabis, Coworking, And The Marijuana-industry Land Rush
Cannabis is a land-hungry industry, and finding room for cultivation and retail operations offers the real challenge, and profit center, for cannabis-related real estate. In California, for instance, thanks to Proposition 64, which legalized recreational use, cities can pass their own zoning regulations and the number of licenses is strictly controlled.

What It’s Like In One Of The Newest Parts Of The Legal Cannabis Industry: Weed Transportation
Washington’s legal marijuana industry has created a demand for cannabis transporters. Go Green, based in Spokane, was the first company in Washington to get a marijuana transportation license in 2016. They move large quantities of cannabis from farms to stores or laboratories, often driving across the state.

10 Surprising Side Effects To Legalizing Marijuana
Over the past few years, more and more countries and states have been legalizing marijuana, and we’re finally getting to see what effect it really has. Enough time has passed now that we can pretty definitively say what really happened—and it’s not all what you might expect.